BILL ANALYSIS Ó
AB 1145
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Date of Hearing: April 29, 2015
ASSEMBLY COMMITTEE ON EDUCATION
Patrick O'Donnell, Chair
AB 1145
(Medina) - As Introduced February 27, 2015
SUBJECT: Students: Early Commitment to College program
SUMMARY: Requires the Superintendent of Public Instruction
(SPI), by November 1, 2016, to submit specified data on the
Early Commitment to College Program (ECCP) to the Legislative
Analyst's Office (LAO), and requires the LAO to submit a report
on this data to the Legislature, by November 1, 2017.
Specifically, this bill:
1)Requires the SPI, by November 1, 2016, to submit to the LAO
and CDE data relating to ECCP.
2)Requires the LAO, on or before November 1, 2017, to submit to
the Legislature a report relating to the ECCP that includes:
a) the number of school districts and students
participating in ECCP
b) the number of participating students who fulfilled the
requirements of the ECCP
c) any relevant outcome data reported by school districts
to the SPI
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d) the level of technical expertise and guidance provided
by the SPI to school districts participating in the ECCP
e) a recommendation on whether the ECCP should be
continued.
EXISTING LAW:
1)Establishes the ECCP, with voluntary participation by students
and school districts, for the purposes of increasing
college-going rates, motivating students to prepare for
college, helping students understand that college is
attainable and affordable, providing a clear path to college,
and preparing a highly skilled workforce. Sunsets the ECCP on
January 1, 2019.
2)Requires school districts which choose to participate in the
ECCP to provide school-wide college information and college
preparation event, and establishes a "Save me a Spot in
College" pledge.
3)Defines "College Opportunity Zone" (COZ) to mean the 30
percent of public schools that maintain any of grades 6 to 9,
inclusive, with the highest proportion of low-income students.
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4)Requires the SPI to write letters to students in grades 6 to 9
and their parents which describe the major steps to prepare
for college and the major postsecondary and financial aid
opportunities available, and detail the Early Commitment to
College program.
5)Requires the SPI to make these letters and program information
available on its website and request all school districts to
distribute the letters to students and their parents.
6)Specifies that a student scheduled to graduate from high
school after 2017 is allowed to enroll in the program.
7)Requires the SPI to identify schools as COZs, develop the
pledge, develop a letter to parents, and by November 1, 2017
submit a report to the Legislature on the status of the
program. The report must have the following information:
a) the number of school districts and students
participating in the program
b) the number of participating students who fulfilled the
requirements of the pledge
c) any relevant outcome data reported by school districts
to the Superintendent
d) a recommendation on whether the program should be
continued.
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1)Specifies the actions a student who signs the "Save Me a Spot
in College" pledge commits to do, including meeting graduation
requirements, enrolling in college preparatory coursework,
seeking to achieve proficiency in mathematics and reading,
complete and file a free application for federal student aid,
meet application and other requirements for university
admission or enroll directly in community college within 12
months after high school graduation.
2)Specifies the actions that school districts commit to take,
including ensuring that each student receives a certificate of
participation in the program, receives college information and
a transcript review, and goes on a visit to at least one
community college. School districts must also provide
information on college admission and community college
enrollment and financial aid at various points in high school.
FISCAL EFFECT: Unknown
COMMENTS:
Need for the measure. The author's office states, "The Early
Commitment to College program, if implemented correctly,
benefits all residents of California. The goal [of this bill]
is to inform the creation of a stronger program that connects
low-income students to higher education.
Due to lack of support and funding, the implementation of this
voluntary program has not been successful. The program sunsets
in 2019, and a report on participation rates is due in 2017 to
the Legislature. Without leadership and support, it does not
appear that the CDE report will be useful to the Legislature in
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determining the strengths and weaknesses of the existing
program."
What happened to this program? According to the CDE, under the
prior administration of the Department the CDE never received
funding to administer this program. That administration also
never submitted a budget change proposal (BCP) requesting
funding for that purpose. The CDE did send information to
school districts as required, and post program information on
its website. That information has since been removed. No data
was collected about program participation, and CDE has no
information on the number of districts that are participating.
According to the author's staff, the proponents of the
legislation that established the program worked to administer
the program, creating, for example, a program toolkit which is
still available online. But faced with other workload demands,
that organization eventually ceased their support as well.
Information available online suggests that thousands of students
did take the ECCP pledge, including "thousands at nine middle
schools" in the Los Angeles Unified School District and 15,000
in the Long Beach Unified School District (LBUSD). These
districts, according to the LBUSD, were two of the first four to
implement the program. The LBUSD program, called the Long Beach
College Promise, was implemented in conjunction with a
one-semester tuition-free guarantee from California State
University, Long Beach, as well as college scholarships. Since
this program was built on existing local models, it is likely
that there are more participating districts, though the extent
to which their activities are a result of the ECCP may be
difficult to determine.
Who should write the report? In recent years the LAO has
increasingly been assigned responsibility for reports in the
area of higher education policy. This is likely due to the
elimination of the California Postsecondary Education Commission
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(CPEC) in 2011. The LAO has indicated that this increasing
workload has become a problem. The author's office recognizes
this issue, and is seeking alternatives to assigning this
responsibility to the LAO, such as the California Research
Bureau (California State Library).
What will this report tell the Legislature? This bill requires
that the LAO report to the Legislature in a largely descriptive
manner on the program. It requires that the LAO report on:
the number of school districts and students
participating in the program
the number of participating students who fulfilled the
requirements of the pledge
any relevant outcome data reported by school districts
to the Superintendent
the level of technical expertise and guidance provided
by the SPI to school districts participating in the program
a recommendation on whether the program should be
continued
Since the goal of this program was to increase college-going
rates, that is the metric by which the program should be
evaluated. By requiring information on the number of students
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who fulfilled the pledge, current law requires that the report
include information on the number of students who met
application and other requirements for university admission or
enrolled directly in community college within twelve months
after high school graduation, but stops short of requiring
information on university or other postsecondary program
enrollment rates. That information would be useful in
determining whether the program should continue, and could also
inform future program design and implementation. If that
information could be obtained, it would also be useful to
identify any factors - local or state supports or barriers, for
example - that have contributed to its effect. Staff recommends
that the bill be amended to require that the report contain any
available information about participants' university and other
postsecondary program enrollment rates, and any state or local
factors contributing to the program's success or failure.
REGISTERED SUPPORT / OPPOSITION:
Support
None on file
Opposition
None on file
AB 1145
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Analysis Prepared by:Tanya Lieberman / ED. / (916) 319-2087